Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Latino support for Democratic candidates remains strong , with 65 percent of registered Hispanic voters saying they plan to vote for the Democrat in their congressional district in next month 's midterm elections , the Pew Hispanic Center said in a report Tuesday .

But Latino voters appear less motivated than other voters . About one-third of Latino voters say they have given this election `` a lot of thought , '' while half of U.S. registered voters say they have , Pew said .

In a further challenge to Democrats , the nationwide Pew poll found that Republican Latino registered voters may be more likely to vote than Democrats . About 44 percent of Latino Republicans say they have given the election quite a lot of thought compared with 28 percent of Latino Democrats , the Pew report said .

`` This partisan gap is consistent with survey findings of the full population of registered voters , '' said the report by Mark Hugo Lopez , associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center .

The study finds that while two-thirds of Latino voters support the Democrats , 22 percent back the Republican candidate .

Latinos overwhelmingly supported the Democrats in the 2008 presidential election , with Barack Obama getting 67 percent of the Hispanic vote and John McCain garnering 31 percent .

Likewise , the report said , 69 percent of Latino voters supported Democratic candidates in 2006 congressional races while 30 percent supported Republican hopefuls .

`` Even in 2004 , a year when Republicans won a greater share of the Latino vote in the presidential election than at any time since the 1980s , nearly six in 10 -LRB- 58 percent -RRB- Latino voters supported Democrats John Kerry and John Edwards , '' the report said .

Latino support for Obama remains strong , the survey found . Nearly two-thirds of Latino registered voters said they approve of his job performance , well above the 47 percent of all U.S. registered voters who say they approve .

`` Yet when asked about the effect of his administration 's policies on Hispanics , Latino registered voters are divided , '' Pew said . `` More than half -LRB- 51 percent -RRB- say his policies have had no effect on Latinos , while one in four -LRB- 26 percent -RRB- say they have been helpful to Latinos and 13 percent say they have been harmful . ''

The study also reveals that the Democratic Party continues to hold a large advantage in party identification among Latino registered voters . Sixty-two percent of Latino registered voters said they identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party , Pew said , while 25 percent say the same for the Republican Party .

A reason for the support for Democrats may be that the party is seen as having more concern for Latinos .

`` Nearly half -LRB- 47 percent -RRB- of Latino registered voters say this about the Democratic Party -- down from 55 percent in 2008 , but similar to the share on this question expressed by Latinos for much of the past decade , '' Pew said .

`` In contrast , '' the report said , `` very few see the Republican Party as more concerned about Latinos than the Democratic Party -- just 6 percent of all Latino registered voters and 18 percent of Republican Latino registered voters say this . ''

The survey also found that Latinos are less negative than other voters about the direction of the country . Fifty-nine percent of Latino registered voters said they are dissatisfied with the country 's direction , while 73 percent of all U.S. registered voters say the same , Pew said .

Latino support could be significant for both major parties because Hispanics represent a growing portion of the electorate . According to a Pew Hispanic Center analysis of Census Bureau data , Latino voters constituted 7.4 percent of all voters nationwide in 2008 , up from 6 percent in 2004 .

Tuesday 's report is titled `` Latinos and the 2010 Elections : Strong Support for Democrats ; Weak Voter Motivation . ''

The findings for the report came from a national bilingual telephone survey of 1,375 Latinos ages 18 or older , including 618 registered voters , conducted from August 17 through September 19 by the Pew Hispanic Center . The sampling margin for the whole sample is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points .

The Pew Hispanic Center is a nonpartisan research organization that does not take positions on policy issues . It is part of the Pew Research Center , a nonpartisan institute based in Washington that is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts , a Philadelphia-based public charity .

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Pew study : Nearly two-thirds of Latinos support Democrats ; 22 percent back GOP

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Only about a third of Latinos say they have given next month 's election `` a lot of thought ''

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About half of voters in general have given the election `` a lot of thought ''

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The study was conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center research organization